Windows to the Soul

By Keith Buttram, Senior Pastor, Temple Baptist Church, Springdale, AR

Read Matthew 6:22-23.

It has been said that the eyes are the windows to the soul. Usually, the phrase refers to looking into someone’s eyes and perceiving wisdom or knowledge brought about by age or experience.  But in Matthew 6:22, Jesus speaks of the eye as the place where light enters your body, your life.

With a functioning, unobstructed eye, we can see all there is to see and see it clearly.  All the positive, beautiful things, as well as the negative things in life.  Whatever it is, when our eyes are clear, we can see things for what they truly are.

However, with eyes that are obstructed, shaded, or non-functioning, we see things poorly, tinted in some way, or not at all.

Jesus often uses the natural to explain the spiritual, so what is it that affects our eyes spiritually?  What kind of things can help to either cloud or clear our vision?  

The simplest way to understand things that cloud our spiritual vision is to look for anything that gets our focus off Christ and His desire for us to become like Him. Click To Tweet

The simplest way to understand things that cloud our spiritual vision is to look for anything that gets our focus off Christ and His desire for us to become like Him.  Rather than influencing us toward Christ, they lead us away from Him.  Things that feed our basic desires, lusts, and passions.  Things that promote selfishness, laziness, or pride.  These things cloud the way we see the world.

In contrast, the apostle Paul shared a way to clear our spiritual eyes in Philippians 4:8.

If we want a clear vision so that we can see the world in truth, then our eyes must be clear.  We need to focus on things that draw us closer to Christ that influence us to be more like Him.  Chief among those things is God’s word, the Bible.  The psalmist wrote, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” (Psalm 119:105)

Unfortunately, many of us are like someone who walks into the house from being outside in the bright sunlight, unable to see much of anything because we are still wearing our sunglasses, and we don’t even realize it. Let’s take the blinders off, focus on the true, the good, the noble, the just, the pure, and the lovely, and see the world in the light the way God intended.

Reflective Questions

1. What are some things that you have allowed to cloud your vision this week?
2. How has that affected the way you see yourself? The way you see others?
3. What can you do differently this week so that your spiritual eye will see more clearly?

Memory Verse

The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. Matthew 6:22 (NKJV)

Prayer

Dear God, help me to clear my spiritual eyes by focusing on what is true, good, noble, just, pure, and lovely. Help me to stay consistent in reading Your Word and trusting it to be a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Related Scriptures

Luke 11:34-36; I Corinthians 3:18-19; Proverbs 26:12; I John 2:11; Romans 1:22; Philippians 4:8; Psalm 119:105